The Belgian Resistance

The armed Belgian resistance
movement effectively based itself in the wooded Ardennes region of the
country. Elsewhere in Belgium it spent a great deal of its time gathering
intelligence and passing it onto the British. By the end of 1941,
ten resistance cells existed in Belgium and by the end of 1942,
they operated 25 clandestine transmitters. By the time of D-Day
in 1944, the number of transmitters had gone up to 40.
British records from 1942 show that 80% of the intelligence gathered by all
resistance movements in all occupied countries in that year came from Belgium.
In particular, the reports sent through on the placing of German radar was vital
to the Allies bombing campaign.

A secret printing press

However, there was one
weakness in the set-up of the Belgian resistance that SOE (Special Operations
Executive) had warned them off. The transmitters which sent so much vital
intelligence data to Britain were also used to co-ordinate military ventures
against the Germans - the destruction of bridges, rail lines etc. SOE
recommended that the two should be split with some transmitters being used
solely for intelligence transmissions and some being used solely for operational
matters. This advice was never heeded and several of the resistance cells were
caught as a result - and paid the price.

Alongside the 10 cells that
spent their time sending intelligence to Britain, 12 armed units existed by the
end of 1941. Ironically, there were probably too many of
them in a country as small as Belgium and it increased the chance of them being
compromised by the Gestapo. The largest of the groups was called the 'Legion
Belge'. However, the Belgian government in exile based in London
distrusted the long term motives of 'Legion Belge' as they believed that this
movement did not want the exiled royal family back once the war had ended. This
led to friction between the Belgian government in exile and SOE which wanted to
encourage the work done by 'Legion Belge'.

A settlement between the
Belgian government in exile and 'Legion Belge' was reached by July 1943
when it was given not only a constitution of its rights but also a specific set
of instructions on what was expected of it. The 'Legion Belge' became the 'Armée
Secrète' and its first task was to raise 50,000 people who would come under the
command of the Allies when required.

The second most important
resistance movement in Belgium was the 'Front de l'Indépendence'. This movement
was given the task of co-ordinating civil resistance. However, all resistance
movements in Belgium, however big or small, were concerned with civil
resistance, intelligence gathering, sabotage and helping POW's to escape. All of
them also had their own clandestine printing presses as well.

While all the resistance
movements in Belgium sent valuable intelligence data to Britain, the movements
themselves did not believe that they were getting their fair share of support
from SOE. The main criticism was that SOE was not giving them enough supplies.
While this may have been a fair criticism, it also failed to accept the fact
that SOE had to deal with a great number of resistance movements in all of
occupied Europe. All of them throughout occupied Europe probably felt that they
needed more than SOE could supply if they were to be effective in what they
did.

It is generally accepted
that the most successful group in terms of material destruction was 'Groupe G'
whose numbers never exceeded 3,000. On January 15th 1944,
this group put out all high tension electric lines in Belgium simultaneously.
Factories came to a standstill and it is estimated that this one action cost the
Germans the equivalent of 10 million man hours of work.

By early 1944, the
resistance movements were printing over 300 clandestine newspapers that
circulated all over Belgium. In the previous year, they managed to publish
100,000 fake copies of 'Le Soir' - a newspaper controlled by the Germans. They
were sold as real ones at news stands throughout the country.

One of the most important
functions of the Belgian resistance was to assist the movement of escaped POW's
and airman shot down during a raid. The most important escape line was called 'Comète'
and it ran in close liaison with the Dutch
and French resistance movements.